Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Passing Exams

“Exam week… and last panegyric
Extolling new site of chem lyric: 
A step energizing
In verse-enterprising;
A blue shift, in terms atmospheric!”  

This essay will mark the first time my original limerick will have been written for a different site, as I’ll share new poems on Bluesky, moving forward.  I still am only about halfway through the Twitter poems from last April; thus, next semester will be an interesting blend of Twitter and Bluesky links, before the NaPoWriMo2024 set of poems is fully readdressed via the essays here.  Regardless, this will be my last regular blog entry for Autumn 2024, after a long semester.     

“Exam week… and last panegyric /
Extolling new site of chem lyric…” 

It’s Finals Week on campus, so it’s a logical time to bring the autumn sequence of essays to a close.  My first few Bluesky posts have been rather sporadic, as I get used to the website (the “new site of chem lyric”), but it has been interesting and fun to rediscover other science poetry and creative work there.  I hope to move soon to a focus that’s not merely the novelty of the location, and I’ll designate this poem the “last panegyric,” in support of that aspiration.  

“A step energizing /
In verse-enterprising; /
A blue shift, in terms atmospheric!”  

“Red shift” and “blue shift” are phrases used to efficiently communicate about spectroscopic behaviors of chemical samples (i.e., how do substances interact with various types of light?).  

Red shifts, or bathochromic shifts, are seen when an energy-lowering effect is observed in a spectroscopic environment; blue shifts, or hypsochromic shifts, are seen when an energy-increasing effect is observed in a spectroscopic environment.  This makes sense given the relative behaviors of visible light: in the ROYGBIV rainbow, red light has the lowest energy and longest wavelength, while blue light is much nearer to the other extreme.    

The autumn’s Bluesky shift (the “blue shift, in terms atmospheric”) has been a “step energizing” in terms of my creative writing (“verse-enterprising”), since I had mostly fallen out of that habit, aside from NaPoWriMo, in recent years. 

While it is promising to look toward the hope and potential of the new semester and year, I am certainly glad for December’s break from academic routines, in the meantime.  

Categories
STEM Education Poetry

Matter at Hand

“Clockwise or counter?  
Enantiomeric: 
We note designation as R or S, seen.  
Note how substituents 
Yield structure ‘handed’: 
A configurational naming routine.”

After National Library Week drew to a close, the 14 April 2024 Twitter poem shifted back to a more directly scientific theme, with a focus on a specific concept used to understand the reactivity of organic molecules.  Other posts on this site have engaged with the theme more broadly; this one examined a specific naming convention.    

“Clockwise or counter?  /
Enantiomeric: /
We note designation as R or S, seen…”

Part of learning organic chemistry involves understanding molecules in three-dimensional space.  Stereochemistry is the general discussion of this understanding.  

Within the broad topic of stereochemistry, enantiomeric molecules (enantiomers) are those that are non-superimposable mirror images of one another.  They contain the same atoms connected in the same order, but the implications of their different three-dimensional arrangements can be immense.     

The primary way students describe enantiomers is via the designation R or S, which is a shorthand for how attached atoms or groups are arranged as one sees them on a chiral center, when the least significant attached group is pointing away from the viewer.  

If the other three groups are arranged in a clockwise configuration in terms of their “priority”, the chiral center is designated R (from the Latin term recto, for “right”).  If the other three groups are arranged in a counterclockwise configuration, based on these rules, the chiral center is designated S (from the Latin term sinister, for “left”).    

Other pairs of vocab terms are employed with enantiomers, as well, such as dextrorotatory and levorotatory.  (Part of what is challenging in learning this material can be the lack of overlap across the distinguishing categories, which rely on different classification criteria.)

“Note how substituents /
Yield structure ‘handed’: /
A configurational naming routine.”

Adjusting to three-dimensional viewing can be a challenge.  It typically helps to remind students of the parallels between paired enantiomeric structures and right and left hands.  Just as a pair of hands would be a set of non-superimposable mirror images, so are two enantiomers. 

Classifying molecules as R or S is a “configurational naming routine.”

Categories
writing

Turtle Forward

“Picture-book classic:
Consider the terrapin,
Facing the day 
With defense first miscued;
Learning to balance 
A shell-set employment
With needed steps…
As a wise turtle would do.”

The 12 April 2024 Twitter poem highlighted Turtle Tale, a memorable storybook written by Frank Asch.  This was the last of three story-summarizing poems written during National Library Week 2024.  (In terms of the post title here, the rhyme with “hurtle forward” was both humorous and intriguingly contradictory.)  

“Picture-book classic: /
Consider the terrapin…”

Unlike the novels celebrated earlier here, Turtle Tale is a picture book, highlighting simple images of a “terrapin” learning to navigate the world.  (Author Frank Asch also composed and illustrated many other classics during his career.)  

“Facing the day /
With defense first miscued; /
Learning to balance /
A shell-set employment /
With needed steps…”

In this story, the eponymous Turtle learns when best to use his shell, facing the various hazards of the day.  

Initially, a falling apple strikes him on the head, so he decides to always hide in his shell.  However, he then realizes he cannot eat or drink (his “defense [is] first miscued”), so he fully reverses his resolve.  The storyline continues through a few more “all or nothing” moments, until Turtle strategically deploys his “shell-set employment” at a key moment: hiding from a hungry fox, then re-emerging to face the day, once the danger is past.  

Achieving the balance between stationary, defensive stance and “needed steps” brings Turtle’s story to a satisfying close.  

“As a wise turtle would do.”

Turtle’s refrain as he strives for this happy medium is: “That’s what a wise turtle would do.”  He first applies this characterization to the two extremes (always using the shell; never using the shell) before realizing the wisdom of moderation, at which point the line– now deployed more aptly– closes the book. 

During my childhood, this was one of my and my siblings’ favorite stories, and the status of “wise turtle” became a shorthand for achieving a sensible response to an everyday challenge.  It has been fun to revisit the book, years later, in this setting.  

Categories
writing

Filed Away

“Art to impart,
Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler;
Sculpture donated; museum is set.
Claudia, Jamie
Sort out mixed-up files;
Work’s authentication
Is challenge well-Met.”

The 12 April 2024 Twitter poem continued the theme of National Library Week, with this day’s poem providing an overview of 1968’s Newbery-Award-winning novel: E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  

“Art to impart, /
Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; /
Sculpture donated; museum is set.”

This novel centers around a sculpture donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by one Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  She has bought it at auction for a small price, and the museum puts it on display, highlighting a key question: whether it might actually be the work of Michelangelo. 

(It was fascinating to learn that Konigsburg drew inspiration from a real-life case in the late 1960s, in which a bust purchased by the museum for under $250 was ultimately attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.)

“Claudia, Jamie / 
Sort out mixed-up files; / 
Work’s authentication / 
Is challenge well-Met.”

Siblings Claudia and Jamie Kincaid are the main characters; they have run away from their elementary-school existence to live at the museum, and they become aware of the mystery of the statue’s origins.  Near the novel’s close, they travel to visit Mrs. Frankweiler, and they investigate her “mixed-up files,” which include the provenance conclusively linking the statue to Michelangelo, allowing the “work’s authentication.”  The challenge is both well-met (since they solve the mystery) and “well-Met” (set primarily in the famous museum).  

This has long been a favorite book.  I learned more recently that Konigsburg worked as a chemist for several years before she turned to writing, and I see several interesting links there, throughout the novel. Certainly, the processes of art authentication often overlap with scientific investigation. More generally, the climactic office scene (in which Claudia and Jamie encounter the files themselves) relies on close observation, creative thinking, and the ability to realize a flash of illumination when it arrives: all key to both science and art. 

Categories
writing

Weaving Work

“Spider’s web, wider:
In barn’s early morning,
Illumined in doorway, a
Shining silk grid.  
Charlotte— no starlet;
True friend and good writer— 
A heroine’s artistry
Spotlights ‘some pig.’ ” 

The 11 April 2024 Twitter poem was part of my celebration of National Library Week, and it highlighted E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.  

Interestingly, I initially thought of this week’s book-themed poems as distinct from the science-themed verse I generally write. However, White’s prose addresses and alludes to many scientific principles, especially in his detailed discussions of Charlotte A. Cavatica.      

As I’m sure many people could say, I first encountered this story many years ago, as one of my first “chapter books” in school.  I have appreciated knowing E. B. White’s name for decades since, finding his writing invariably reassuring in challenging times.   

“Spider’s web, wider…”

This poem goes in circles a bit, rather than telling a story linearly, but that seems quite appropriate.  Here, the first line is the one that most directly acknowledges the end of the story.  

The meaning of the book’s title expands on several levels: the spider Charlotte weaves words into her web to catalyze a larger plot and save the life of her friend, the pig Wilbur.  As the chapters progress, he is celebrated with many of her creative descriptors, including “TERRIFIC,” “RADIANT,” and “HUMBLE.” 

(Metaphorically, moreover, it would be tough to imagine a library or school that does not recognize this story’s widening influence over time, for beginning readers.)   

“In barn’s early morning, /
Illumined in doorway, a /
Shining silk grid.”  

Most of the story occurs in the Zuckerman family’s barn, where Wilbur meets Charlotte for the first time.  

White acknowledges the sublime in the familiar, throughout his book. One such passage describes the web itself: “On foggy mornings, Charlotte’s web was truly a thing of beauty.  This morning each thin strand was decorated with dozens of tiny beads of water.  The web glistened in the light and made a pattern of loveliness and mystery, like a delicate veil.”  

When I saw this web last autumn, decades after first encountering the book, those words still came immediately to mind.  

“Charlotte— no starlet; /
True friend and good writer— /
A heroine’s artistry /
Spotlights ‘some pig.’”  

Charlotte is the title character of this story, but “no starlet”; her work in supporting protagonist Wilbur stays behind the scenes.

In the novel’s famous closing lines, White writes: “Wilbur never forgot Charlotte.  Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart.  She was in a class by herself.  It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.  Charlotte was both.”    

The last two lines loop back to a happier part of the story, as Charlotte begins her artistic quest to save Wilbur: weaving her initial accolade, “SOME PIG,” into her web; drawing the attention of the local community; ultimately ensuring Wilbur’s newfound fame will mean his long life on the farm. 

Categories
writing

Open Books

“The week underway: celebrating
Books, libraries, tomes; elevating 
The frigates poetic.  
Next few posts’ aesthetic:
Some classics, verse-commemorating.”

The 10 April 2024 Twitter limerick began a new set of themed posts, as the week of the total solar eclipse was also National Library Week 2024!  This first poem simply introduced the week-in-progress, while each of the next three posts summarized a specific story.  

“The week underway: celebrating /
Books, libraries, tomes…”

The first two lines of the limerick shifted focus to National Library Week and noted that it was already underway.  The motto for this year’s event was “Ready, Set, Library.”  

“[E]levating / The frigates poetic…”

The third line referenced Emily Dickinson’s much more memorable celebration of the “books, libraries, tomes” alluded to previously: “There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away.”  (I am sure I am one of many who encountered that particular term for the first time in her poem, reinforcing her verse’s overall theme.)  

This in turn reminded me of one of the previous spring’s posts, which had highlighted a comparable quote by Anna Quindlen: “Books are the plan, and the train, and the road.  They are the destination, and the journey.  They are home.”  

“Next few posts’ aesthetic: /
Some classics, verse-commemorating.”

“Pro-book” is not a particularly surprising or novel (ha) stance to take, but I will always welcome the opportunity to deliberately revisit some favorite stories in this space, and the subsequent three Twitter poems were fun to write.  I similarly look forward to writing in more detail about them here, this month.  

The last two lines set up the goals for the rest of the week, in which the poems would aim to “verse-commemorate” some of my favorite classic books from years past.  

Categories
writing

Poetic Policy

In the midst of autumn hectic,
I am pondering eclectic
(With most lines acatalectic)
For October-posting goal. 
In the meetings by the dozens
Re: the calendar discussions,
Hear the essay repercussions 
Where extent exerts control:
Whence the structure, on the whole? 

This is a non-Twitter poem for which the general theme has been running through my mind since the late summer.  It uses the structure of a stanza of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” which the author contextualizes from start to finish in his absorbing essay entitled “The Philosophy of Composition.”  

For my part, this homage comments on some of the discussions I’ve heard in academic meetings in the past few months.  Since the poem didn’t have the Twitter constraint of 280 characters, I’ll give myself some more flexibility, with a 560-word limit, starting here.   

In the midst of autumn hectic, /
I am pondering eclectic /
(With most lines acatalectic.) /
For October-posting goal….

This essay will “ponder… [the] eclectic” more than typical chem-specific posts here do. The “lines acatalectic” seem particularly suited for this specific “October-posting goal”: few poems have as distinctive a syllabic rhyme scheme as Poe’s “The Raven.”  It is a fun challenge to match the structure.  

In the meetings by the dozens /
Re: the calendar discussions, /
Hear the essay repercussions /
Where extent exerts control…

Several of this semester’s committee meetings (but not, in all prosaic fairness, anywhere near dozens of them!) have involved discussions about future years’ academic calendars.

What I found initially counter-intuitive, but quickly convincing, is that the first step must be the choice regarding the actual calendar adjustment, before the substance of what that adjustment entails can be thoroughly discussed.  This is because many long-term, high-stakes campus plans— class modules, athletic teams’ schedules— hinge on what the calendar looks like in the first place.  The timescale for changing the calendar (years in advance) is longer than the timescale for using it (months or weeks in advance).  

When the pertinent conversations began, they thus suggested “essay repercussions,” as I was reminded of “The Philosophy of Composition,” in which Edgar Allan Poe recounts his writing process for “The Raven.”  His essay highlights some similarly unexpected points.  

For instance, rather than the metric feet used, or the scene depicted, or the voice of the narrator– all of which are quite famous– the fundamental requirement that Poe discusses is simply the poem’s length: “The initial consideration was that of extent.”  He comments that the poem should be read all at once to achieve maximum effect: “If two sittings be required, the affairs of the world interfere, and everything like totality is at once destroyed.”  Soon after follow similarly broad discussions of effect (“beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem”) and tone (“one of sadness”).  

It is only after those three big-picture choices that Poe addresses what I would’ve initially thought to be more vivid inspirations: the raven itself, the bird’s “Nevermore” refrain, and the story of the narrator and Lenore.  And likewise, it is only after THAT discussion that Poe notes that he “may as well say a few words of the versification.”  The logistics of the intricate rhymes, employing trochaic feet in a primarily (but not entirely) “octametre acatalectic” scheme, are presented almost as an afterthought. 

When I first encountered this essay, I was surprised to learn that the dramatic saga of the “midnight dreary” finds its primary origin in a line-count requirement.  

Whence the structure, on the whole? 

In terms of this post, I’ll keep my focus on the comparison between poem and calendar.  It is interesting to see how “extent exerts control” in both literary work and academic planning, as the defining first principle.  The overall shapes of both works under consideration (“the structure[s], on the whole”) rely on eminently practical starting points.  

More broadly, it is fascinating to revisit such a generously retrosynthetic analysis of a poem.  Doing so evokes some chemistry themes generally: the creative process versus the final work, the varied ways in which “micro” elements combine to yield “macro” effects, and other themes I’ve enjoyed exploring in this space.  I expect I will return to Poe’s essay in the future. 

Categories
Science Poetry

Under the Sun

“One small note for view anthological;
Five lines citing gaze cosmological.  
A sight awe-inspiring;
Synapses rewiring.  
Remembrance is e’er astronomical.”

The 9 April 2024 Twitter limerick provided a brief postscript to the events of 8 April 2024’s “Eclipse Day,” as routine fully re-emerged for the area.  

“One small note for view anthological; /
Five lines citing gaze cosmological.”

Many others celebrated the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse quite eloquently, via many media. 

My contribution of the five lines of a limerick to the general “view anthological” is rather inconsequential, but it was good to have the established NaPoWriMo 2024 routine with which to reflect on the “gaze cosmological,” even briefly.  

“A sight awe-inspiring; /
Synapses rewiring…”

It is likely that the April 2024 afternoon might be a once-in-a-lifetime sight for me, without significant travel to other areas of totality in the future. Certainly, though, it was the first time I’d seen a true total eclipse, and as a brand-new observation, the moment was awe-inspiring and inspirational.  

“Remembrance is e’er astronomical.”

I generally am wary of using disciplinary STEM terms I don’t know as well as chemistry-specific vocabulary, in these poems.  However, between the eclipse itself and the fact that it had certainly been a big day for the area, it seemed fair to consider the previous afternoon as “astronomical,” in multiple senses of the word.   

Categories
Science Poetry

Midnight’s Due

“A Monday moment; time stands still: 
Semester’s main attraction; 
A midday midnight madness made
From orbital infraction.  
Crowd celebrates and congregates in 
Spring term’s prime distraction:
A learning goal unparalleled…
Eclipsing interaction.”

The 8 April 2024 Twitter poem continued the previous day’s theme; this verse celebrated the actual day of the Spring 2024 total solar eclipse, visible across much of the midwestern USA.  

I enjoyed the interdisciplinary focus of such a major event, reading several essays that highlighted the unforgettable nature of such a day, as with Annie Dillard’s “Total Eclipse.”  I also had not been aware until the spring of just how many times Emily Dickinson noted solar eclipses in her prolific work, and I was glad to learn more. One of her verses in particular vividly centered the jarring arrival of totality, beginning:

“Sunset at night — is natural — /
But sunset on the Dawn /
Reverses nature — Master— /
So midnight’s — due — at Noon —” 

This post title uses a variation on Dickinson’s fourth line here; the essay is intended to give the day of the eclipse more of its deserved attention (i.e., midnight’s due) than the April poem alone could.    

“A Monday moment; time stands still: /
Semester’s main attraction…”

This Monday had been on my mental calendar for a while, since seeing a partial solar eclipse early in the 2017-2018 academic year.  I had wished I could make the trek to totality during August 2017, and so I anticipated seeing the phenomenon in person until and through 2023-2024. It was striking at a busy semester’s close to watch everyone take the same pause to observe the once-in-a-lifetime sight; afternoon meetings were canceled for an hour, and buildings were empty, as we all looked to the sky.  

“A midday midnight madness made /
From orbital infraction…”

Totality was nearer the prosaic hour of 3 p.m., but I can rarely resist reaching for alliteration.  The “orbital infraction” was a periphrastic take on the eclipse itself, highlighting the way in which the orbit of the Earth around the sun and the orbit of the Moon around the Earth intersected so fortuitously.    

“Crowd celebrates and congregates in /
Spring term’s prime distraction… /
A learning goal unparalleled… /
Eclipsing interaction.”

The ending lines linked the historic sight (the “prime distraction”) to… chemistry vocabulary!  

When a molecule rotates in three-dimensional space, it is possible that some of its atoms can occasionally block one another, incurring an energetic penalty via an “eclipsing interaction,” described in detail in this entry.  The same phrase came to mind, with a much more human-focused interpretation, as I watched groups congregate on this Monday, both on campus and nearby, via conversations and encounters facilitated on a predictable-yet-astonishing afternoon. 

Categories
Science Poetry

Around the Block

“On the eve of a sight far from typical–
Thanks to junction of orbits elliptical–
Moon-o’er-sun: brief obscuring
Will prove mem’ry enduring 
In tomorrow’s occasion ecliptical.”  

The NaPoWriMo 2024 routine included multiple themed sets of poems, although none of this year’s sequences were quite so esoteric as previous years’ celebrations (e.g., those that had focused on enthalpy or reaction mechanisms in previous Aprils).  The first such set was the sequence of Twitter poems from 7 April 2024 through 9 April 2024, in which all three posts celebrated the spring term’s total solar eclipse.

The corresponding essays will be posted here today and in the next two weeks, celebrating the day before, the day of, and the day after the memorable event (the time “around the block,” perhaps).  

“On the eve of a sight far from typical– /
Thanks to junction of orbits elliptical…”

It is useful to remember how little I need to deviate from a chemistry-only focus before I am apprehensive about using creative writing to celebrate STEM themes!  The total solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 was certainly an event best discussed knowledgeably by an astronomer.  

However, it also felt absurd to ignore such a historic event during a monthlong celebration of science themes, so I confined my “Eclipse Day Eve” limerick to two big points.  One, the orbits of the Earth around the sun and the moon around the Earth both take the shape of an ellipse (as denoted in Kepler’s laws), so I made the case that the famous encounter causing a solar eclipse could be considered a “junction of orbits elliptical.”  Two, I likewise felt confident in designating the event “far from typical,” given that it had been several years since I’d seen even a partial eclipse.    

“Moon-o’er-sun: brief obscuring /
Will prove mem’ry enduring /
In tomorrow’s occasion ecliptical.”

The points raised in lines 3-4 were similarly straightforward.  I knew the time of the actual total eclipse at my location would be brief but memorable, especially if weather predictions held and we had clear skies for the minutes leading up to totality.  

One last point– probably an unsurprisingly one: the spark for this specific poem was the potential rhyme between the “elliptical” nature of the astronomical orbits and the “ecliptical” theme of the day.  (The latter was a newly coined term, but ideally a logical use of poetic license.)